Hold the phone: Betts, Price deal not quite final

Per @Ken_Rosenthal, the hold up in the Red Sox-Dodgers trade is over Brusdar Graterol's medical records. Red Sox "might ask for an additional player and/or money to bridge the gap, though it is unclear whether the player would come from the Twins or Dodgers, sources said."

— Jared Carrabis (@Jared_Carrabis) February 6, 2020

So you watch me evaluate the (rather solid) returns in a blockbuster deal with the Los Angeles Dodgers that I called "done." (Shut up, you did too.) Now, those might not even be the final returns.

(Photo: Carlos Osorio, AP Photo)

In a shocking turn of events, a medical holdup has caused the 3-team deal that would send Mookie Betts and David Price to the Dodgers and Alex Verdugo and Brusdar Graterol to the Red Sox. The medical hurdle—not Verdugo's back, not Price's... anything. It's the 21-year-old flame-throwing pitcher from the Twins, who I provided a very high profile of a few hours ago. A guy who throws triple digits and possesses extreme upside with his secondary pitch, Graterol's injury history now clearly not one to be ignored. In June 2015, he underwent Tommy John surgery and in May 2018, he was held out with back spams. To top it off, a shoulder impingement syndrome in 2019. And now, the Twins part of the deal may be the reason we see the rare takeback on a blockbuster trade.

Blockbuster update: Red Sox viewed Brusdar Graterol's medicals and "projected him more as a reliever than a starter," per @Ken_Rosenthal. Sox might ask for additional player or money.

Teams "confident the deal will be completed, but perhaps not in its original reported form."

— Chris Cotillo (@ChrisCotillo) February 6, 2020

Now before you decide you're going to stay awake all night, keep in mind that any discussion about what this means for the immediate future of this deal and the players involved is pure speculation. However, if Graterol does happen to be the deal-breaker that makes this move impossible, the Dodgers will restart their grind to get Mookie Betts (and perhaps David Price as well) to Boston. The possibilities from here are endless, but the Red Sox still have to concern themselves with making the right move, and that move probably does involve getting Mookie Betts traded and perhaps ensuring David Price's contract is at least partially packaged.

(Photo: Tim Campbell, Joshua Tjiong/MiLB.com)

Could this be a blessing in disguise for the Red Sox to get the Dodgers to give up more? Could prospects like Dustin May or Gavin Lux start becoming discussable for the Dodgers? The Sox reportedly have also shown serious interest in catching prospect Keibert Ruiz and have discussed middle-infielder Jeter Downs. Names will start flying around, but for now, the front offices will get to work and you can guarantee the Sox will not be the ones in a rush. While they throw World Series parades in LA, the Sox may wake you up in the morning with either Mookie Betts still on the team or multiple highly-touted prospects flying to Fort Myers.

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